I really miss Command and Conquer. It’s not the mechanics as such, although Westwood’s classic did a lot to pioneer the modern RTS. It’s the visuals, the aesthetic. I miss the pixel art, the simple maps, and the sweeping semi top-down perspective. Likewise, I have a sincere nostalgia for Age of Empires. Perhaps I’m being too sentimental, but strategy and RTS games from the ‘90s and early ‘00s seem to leap off the screen more than their modern counterparts. Stark colors. Blocky buildings. Simply animated little units. Between Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, and the epochal Age of Empires 2, I long for a return to the genre’s heyday. A new Steam RTS, playable right this moment, feels like an homage to this era. Mixing Westwood’s classic, AoE, and some smart automation systems, you can check it out today for free.
Welcome to Flow of War, an RTS game so-named for its focus on the big rather than small aspects of strategy. Before each game, you choose from one of three races – the magical Demons, brute-force Urthans, and balanced Humans. Your initial task, naturally, is to design and build a functioning base and some primitive defenses.
From there however, Flow of War deviates from the traditional real-time strategy style. Rather than micromanage every worker or military unit, you can assign them tasks, objectives, and behaviors, and automate their routines. Imagine conveyor games like Factorio or Satisfactory, where you gradually relinquish your lesser obligations to concentrate on the bigger picture. In Flow of War, the fussy, fiddly stuff runs by itself, freeing you to focus on research, building, and expansion.
There are 20 different game modes, a procedural map generation system, and dozens of building upgrades. A spiritual successor to the likes of AoE, Command and Conquer, and Stronghold, if you want to try Flow of War for yourself, there’s a new free demo available right here.
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